


Daddy's Girl

by TardisTexan



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-29
Updated: 2014-12-29
Packaged: 2018-03-04 03:23:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2907476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TardisTexan/pseuds/TardisTexan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three quick one shots of Rory bonding with his daughter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Big Bang 2

River walked away from the Pandorica and the Doctor. She put her face in her hands and sighed sadly. Then she straightened herself and went to Amy and Rory. “Amy, he wants to talk to you.” 

“What happens when this is over? What happens to us?” Amy asked.

“We all wake up where we aught to be, none of this ever happens. 

“River, tell me he comes back too,” Amy said, tears welling up in her eyes.

“The Doctor will be at the heart of the explosion,” River took a deep breath, trying to hold back her tears. “All the cracks will close, but he'll be on the wrong side. Trapped in the netherspace, the void between worlds. All memory of him will be purged from the universe. He will never have been born.” River tried to stay calm on the outside, but inside she was screaming. This was her husband she was talking about. In just a few moments, her husband would have never existed. The man she loved more than anything would be absolutely gone. Her own existence might also blink away or at the very least drastically change, but that didn't really matter so much. All that mattered was him. “Now please, he wants to talk to you before he goes.”

“Not to you?” Amy asked.

“He doesn't really know me yet,” River said, the tears gathering in her eyes. She wanted to hold him, to kiss him, desperately, but he was asking for Amy. “And now he never will.” As Amy moved away from her, a tear slipped down River's cheek. 

“You love him,” Rory said, moving toward her when Amy was gone. “We haven't properly met yet, but I'm Rory Williams. I'm Amy's um.... fiance. And I'm sort of.. plastic. Long story.”

River smiled at Rory warmly, wiping tears from her face.

“It's lovely to meet you Rory.”

“Amy has told me about you. Have you met me.. before?”

River opened her mouth to say spoilers, but then she remembered that the universe was about to blink out of existence. She might as well go with it. And right now, she really needed her Dad. “Yes, Rory, I've met you before.” River sat down on the floor with her back against the wall and Rory sat down with her. 

“And you love the Doctor,” Rory said. River smiled sadly and nodded. “Does he know?” Rory asked.

“I'm not sure,” River answered. “His past is my future, so the more I see him the less he knows me. He may know something but he certainly doesn't feel anything for me yet.”

“That's not true at all, River,” Rory said taking her hand. “When the Doctor heard your voice from the Tardis explosion, I saw his face. He wanted, no he _needed_ to get to you. He had to get you out of there. And then he came back with you on his arm and I saw him looking at you. He certainly feels more than nothing.”

River leaned a little against Rory. She wanted nothing more to bury her face against him and quickly tell him everything, tell him how he had known her forever, that he was her father and that she loved him. She was debating doing it when he said, “Did you really kill a Dalek?”

River laughed and looked up at him. “Yes, yes I did. And you know what? It begged for mercy.”

Rory laughed. “You made a Dalek beg for mercy? That's awesome.”

“I get it from my father,” River said, squeezing his hand. There was a sudden flash of light, and then the universe was so more.


	2. Lets Kill Hitler

Rory sat on the edge of the hospital bed and looked down at his daughter. He had been over River's charts with the cat-like nurses and they said she would be okay, but how could they be sure? There is no way they could have ever treated anyone like River before. This was his daughter, and she had given almost her entire life force away. He was scared, and he was upset, and he was helpless. There was nothing he could do for her and it was eating him up inside. He brushed the hair off her face and laid his hand against her skin. She was just a bit cool to his touch. He told himself that apparently that was normal. If she would only wake up. “Please, please wake up,” he said softly.

The Doctor had carried a sleeping Amy into the TARDIS a few minutes before and he heard the man come back into the room. Rory's eyes didn't leave River. His eyes kept moving over her, watching for signs of her regaining consciousness. Rory felt the Doctor sit on the other side of the bed and he saw the Doctor reach for River's hand. He wanted to push him away, protect her from the reason she was in here. He was angry, very angry. The Doctor had told them earlier that now they could never go back and raise her from a baby. All the pieces were in place, and they knew River's future. Everything was set. He would never hold his baby girl again. Oh yes, he was angry. He knew he shouldn't be, it wasn't the Doctor's fault, not really. But still, if it wasn't for the Doctor he would have gotten to raise his child properly, and she wouldn't have had to sacrifice herself for him. 

Rory opened his mouth to give the Time Lord a piece of his mind when the Doctor said in a quiet, almost pleading voice that Rory had never heard from him before, “Tell me about her.” When Rory turned to look at him questioningly, the Doctor kept his eyes averted, looking at River. Clearing his throat he said in a clearer voice, “About Mels. She was your best friend other than Amy?” 

“Mels was... quite a handful,” Rory smiled. He talked and the Doctor listened. Rory told the Doctor story after story. After one particularly outlandish story, they were laughing but Rory's heart was breaking. “Doctor, Mels was out of control and we never understood why. She has such a big heart and it was clear she loved us, but she lashed out at everyone and would never follow the rules. She totally believes that she is a psychopath, that line wasn't new. We could never figure it out. Amy and I always suspected that Mels was so out of control because her home life was so bad. The couple that she said were her guardians... Well, she hated them that was obvious, and we didn't see anything approaching love come from them. It was all discipline. And there were mysterious bruises and.... Oh, god.” Rory said closing his eyes. “She was my daughter and I didn't protect her from them. I didn't...”

“Rory, stop,” The Doctor said, his jaw clenching. “You were a child yourself. You couldn't have known. This is not your fault.” Rory could see that the Doctor felt the fault fell square upon his own shoulders. Rory didn't think he could disagree. 

“How do I do this?” Rory said, taking River's hand. “How do I reconcile that my best friend Mels is River Song, a woman I admire but who is in prison for murder, and also my daughter? How do I...”

The Doctor took a deep breath. “Day by day Rory. Each day will be a new chapter. Today is a new beginning for her. We know who she becomes. We know who River Song is, but she doesn't. She's confused and..”

“She needs us to help her!” Rory interrupted, almost shouting.

“We will, Rory, we will. But not right away. We have to let her make some decisions on her own. She has to choose to be River Song. But there are things we can give her before we go, we can give her our love.” The Doctor leaned down and kissed River's hand that he was holding. “That's the one thing she will always have with her from now on, no matter what.”

Rory could see now that the Time Lord loved River. He had known that River Song loved the Doctor, and he had seen that the Doctor had a massive crush on River recently, but he could see it now.. the Doctor loved River back. If he loved her half as much as Rory loved Amy, there is no way he would leave her on her own for long. Rory remembered what River had told them at Demons Run - “The Doctor will find your daughter and care for her, whatever it takes.” Rory suspected that they would see her again fairly soon.

–

A few nights after they had left River in the hospital, the Doctor asked Rory to stay up with him when Amy went to bed. After they were sure that Amy was sleeping the Doctor fixed his gaze on Rory. “Now if I remember correctly, the last day Mels would have been in Leadworth would have been August 27 2011, right?” Rory nodded. “Well then, I think we have a couple to visit in Leadworth, don't we?”


	3. Time of Angels

River was exhausted. It had been a very long few days. The guard escorted her to her cell and shut the door behind her. River immediately collapsed on her cot, not even bothering to change out of the camouflage fatigues she still wore. 

The entire trip from Alfava Metraxis back to Stormcage had been spent in debriefing. The Archbishop had made her go over the details again and again. The Archbishop was particularly harsh with River about the loss of Father Octavian and his men. Even though it had not been her fault, the Archbishop needed someone to blame. River felt immense grief about Father Octavian. She had greatly admired him and thought that they were becoming friends. 

River lay on the cot and tears welled up in her eyes. She was hurting over the loss of her friend, dismayed as she felt her hopes of a pardon draining away, and was just now starting to process how very young Amy and the Doctor had been.

She had seen versions of the Doctor before who didn't love her, and her husband had long ago dispelled her strict back to front theory, but seeing that mistrust in his eyes, that lack of warmth, still hurt her deeply. And Amy, this was Amy's first time to meet River Song. This was an Amy who had no idea of what was to come for her, an Amy who had no idea that it was her best friend and her daughter who had her arms around her as she fought the angel in her eye.

Of course, River had put on her upbeat, flirty persona and did her best to stir the Doctor's interest. When he was that young, there was no way in hell she could let him see even a bit of the damage and it had cost her, cost her deeply. But River was willing to bear the pain of a Doctor who didn't know her. Was it not the Doctor who had been her rock when she was the young one? When Melody Pond was learning that she did not have to be the woman her programming intended her to be? She had lashed out, been frightened, been in overwhelming pain, and the Doctor had loved her through it all. She could bear the pain of their messed up timelines now. But that didn't mean that sometimes it was all too much. River's heart ached and she desperately wanted to be around someone who loved her back. 

–

River landed in the Pond's backyard, her chipper mask firmly affixed in place. She mentioned how young the Amy she had seen earlier had been, hoping that Amy would talk to her about it. But the Amy River had found was in an even worse place than River was. Amy had recently been through Area 51. Amy had killed Madame Kovarian and thought the Doctor was dead.

River knew that Amy needed her now, and so she pushed her own pain and exhaustion down. River talked with Amy and Rory long into the night. After the last bottle of wine was gone, River stood up from the table. “May I stay here tonight?” At her parents positive response she continued. “I haven't had a decent shower in ages. The ones in Stormcage aren't exactly up to my standards.” River turned and went inside. Rory watched her go. He had been watching her all evening. Something was off with his daughter, he could tell.

“Amy, tell me again about the first time you met River Song,” Rory asked her, turning a bit to look at her. As Amy related the story, Rory looked concerned. His wife and his daughter had been through quite an ordeal. “Amy, that must have been so hard for her, after having all of these adventures with the Doctor and having all this time with us, to see the both of you and you not recognize her.”

Amy nodded thoughtfully. “I liked River instantly. I think she was trying to impress me. She was magnificent, Rory, really. But now thinking back on it, she was also so lovely and so caring and I was oblivious to all of it. She took such good care of me. Once again, taking care of her Mum when her Mum didn't know her.”

Rory smiled, proud of his daughter. But he was still concerned. “What about the Doctor?”

“The Doctor? Well, he was.... reluctant. You know how he is when he thinks he's being backed into a corner,” Amy said, averting her eyes.

“And I have heard him say a lot of things to hurt River before he knew who she was,” Rory said, a bit of anger in his voice. 

Amy put her hand on his arm. “Rory, she is here with us. She's upstairs and she's fine.”

“Is she?” he answered, looking up toward the second floor windows.  
–

A little while later, River was wrapped in a big fluffy robe and sitting on the edge of the bed running a big toothed comb through her wet curls. This was one of her favorite places in the universe, the room she shared with the Doctor at her parents' house. It was not full of photographs of them yet, but she knew that someday this room would be full of the joy of her marriage. She was looking wistfully at the empty bookcase when the door opened slowly. 

“May I come in?” Rory asked, hesitating at the door.

River nodded and moved to make room for him on the bed.

“So you saw Amy and the Doctor today,” Rory asked her, sitting down.

River nodded but didn't say anything.

“Tough day from what I gather,” Rory said turning toward her. River toyed with the end of the robe's belt. “I'm sorry I wasn't there, River. I would have....” Rory trailed off. He knew he wouldn't have done anything. He wouldn't have known who she was either. He squared his shoulders, he wouldn't have been a father or a friend to her then, but he wanted to be here for her now. He reached out to her and pulled his daughter against him, laying her head on his shoulder. River made a soft sound and buried her head against her father. Rory held her and rocked gently. He would always be there for River, for as long as she would let him. “Why don't you tell your old Dad about it,” he said, rubbing his hand on her arm. “What happened?”

Rory held River while she talked. River told Rory all about the Angels and the clerics. She only hinted about her pain at seeing such a young Doctor, but she talked freely about Father Octavian and what a brave man he had been and how scared she had been for Amy. “Even though I knew Amy would survive to go on and marry you and have me, when you are in the moment, when you see someone you love in danger, it's so very real.” she said, settling back into the bed. She had already been exhausted for hours and it was catching up with her.

Rory stood. “Get some sleep, River. We will be here when you wake up.” He kissed her on the forehead, turned out the light, and went out of the room. 

“How is she?” Amy asked when Rory came in to their room.

“Our daughter is amazing,” Rory said. “She's the strongest person I've ever met. I don't know how she does it Amy, how she loves him and us when everything about us hurts her.”

“Not everything, Rory,” Amy said standing and hugging him. “The Doctor is alive and he married her.”

“He's going to be a rubbish husband to her and you know it,” Rory said pulling away from Amy. He turned to go to the bathroom. “Good thing I have a sword.”


End file.
